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Unemployment rate is lower in every Oklahoma county

Every Oklahoma county and the state's largest metro areas showed improvement in September unemployment rates compared to last year.

The jobless rate fell 0.9 percentage points in the Oklahoma City metro area and 1.3 percent in the Tulsa metro area since September 2017, hitting rates of 2.8 and 3.0 percent, respectively. These rates are an improvement from the August numbers, when unemployment was at 3.2 percent in Oklahoma City and 3.5 percent in Tulsa.

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission released a report Tuesday showing the September 2018 unemployment rates for all 77 Oklahoma counties ranged from 1.7 percent in Dewey, Grant and Love counties, up to 5.1 percent in Latimer County.

Unemployment rates were lower in September than a year earlier in all 77 counties. The statewide jobless rate for September was 3.5 percent, down from 3.7 percent in August.

Oklahoma County and Tulsa County each registered a rate of 2.9 percent in September, down from 3.4 percent in August.

The Oklahoma City metropolitan area had a labor force of 685,199 in September, with 665,993 employed and 19,206 unemployed during that time.

The Tulsa metropolitan area had a labor force of 486,119, with 471,427 employed and 14,692 unemployed.

Other state metropolitan area unemployment rates include Lawton, with an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent; Enid, with an unemployment rate of 2.7 percent; and the Oklahoma portion of the Fort Smith metro area, with an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent.

The state's four regional nonmetropolitan areas had September jobless rates of 3.5 percent in the northeast, 2.6 percent in the northwest, 2.9 percent in the southwest and 3.3 percent in the southeast, the commission said.

Business Writer David Dishman has worked as a journalist in Oklahoma since 2014 covering business, education, local government, healthcare and more. He worked as a reporter in southeast Oklahoma before joining the business team at The Oklahoman in...
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